The Lost Colony (Lost Starship Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. “Prepare for boarding.”
    It took ten minutes of maneuver for the two shuttles to stop fully and the fighters to circle them with their guns live.
    More time passed as two shuttles left the hammership, accelerated and then decelerated. Finally, several spacemen left a Windsor League shuttle, using hydrogen exhaust to propel themselves to the nearest escapee shuttle.
    “Thank you, thank you,” wept one of the Palain escapees. “We owe you so much.”
    “No,” Pa Kur said. “You owe no one anything as you are mere tools.” He pressed a button.
    Hypnotism was an interesting phenomenon. The sub-men were particularly susceptible to the practice. The people in the shuttles believed they had looked for thermonuclear bombs, when in fact they had not. How otherwise could they have sounded so convincing?
    Pa Kur’s radio pulse reached the two shuttles. Seconds later, each of them ignited, blowing apart. Powerful thermonuclear blasts also took out the hammership’s two shuttles and many of the space-fighters. Even more important, gamma rays, X-rays and heat billowed at the hammership. Clearly, the blasts would fail to knock down the shields, but they would whiten the ship’s sensors for a short time.
    “We shall begin,” Pa Kur told his Sevens, “in three seconds.” The time passed. “Now,” he said.
    Pa Kur engaged the single-ship’s thruster. As acceleration increased, he switched on a timer, watching it closely.
    “Fold,” he said.
    His single-ship disappeared from its position and reappeared less than one quarter of a kilometer from the hammership. Just as Strand had predicted, rescue shuttles launched from the giant vessel. That meant a way through the shields for the attacking needlecraft.
    “Ignore the shuttles,” Pa Kur instructed the others. “Get onto the hammership at once.”
    None of his sept acknowledged his command, of course. None of them would understand why the sub-men practiced such a thing. They had heard; thus, they would obey.
    Pa Kur noted the single-ships around him. That was good. On his tiny screen, he saw the opening in the three shields. Once, Per Lomax had used single-ships against Starship Victory . The Emperor’s people had studied the attack. Pa Kur used the new and improved tactics that came from the study. It was why he had forty-nine needle-ships and why they had appeared so near the hammership.
    Surprise must have been total. The shuttles accelerated from the hammership, passing the tiny single-ships. The crews must not even realize forty-nine needle-shaped craft rushed at the open hangar bay entrances.
    Pa Kur stared ahead. The large bay doors began to close. The sub-men on the hammership must finally recognize the threat. With his dark eyes filled with visions of glory, the Fifth-Ranked New Man knew it was too late for them now.
    ***
    Pa Kur landed on a hangar bay deck with a jar. He released the handlebars and pressed a switch. His restraints exploded off him even as the canopy blew into the hangar bay.
    As Pa Kur stood, he activated his stealth suit, engaged his enablers and drew a blaster. Around him, other New Men did likewise. Each disappeared from view. The enablers would speed their reflexes and help their muscles move faster than was natural.
    Hatches opened in the hangar bay and Royal Marines in battle armor clanked into view. Many of them raised heavy arms, letting their Gatling guns hose exploding bullets at the single-ships. Some of the crafts began to shred into pieces. Other three-man Marine teams carried bigger machine guns.
    Pa Kur sneered as he sailed through the air. He’d already vaulted from his craft. As more single-ships were hit, he landed on the deck. Dampers gave the hangar bay pseudo-gravity.
    None of the subhumans had noticed him, of course. He wore the best in stealth suits. A glance around showed him forty-seven New Men. Only two of his sept had failed to enter the hammership.
    “Open fire,” Pa Kur radioed.
    It was pathetically easy. As